Re: If it's wrong it's wrong!
Kevin Ma's characterization of Palestinians in the West Bank being oppressed, separated from their farms by a wall, made to endure check points and long lines when travelling from place to place, harassed by settlers and having homes demolished may all be true. However the article failed miserably because it told only half the story. And in so doing it left the readers believing that Israel and Israelis are some kind of monsters.
I would hope that Kevin's readers would ask why. Why would Israel, a liberal democracy, whose citizens, Jews, Muslims, Christians and secularists enjoy freedoms that Arabs in the Arab world can only dream of.
Why do Israeli's build walls and check points and settlements? Though the problems are many the answers are simple. We have two people, the Jews and the Arabs both who have legitimate claims on this tiny piece of land. Though 70 per cent of that land which was envisioned in the Balfour declaration of 1917 to be the future home of the Jewish people was given away by Britain to a Bedouin chieftain, the Jews none the less agreed to the UN Partition Plan of 1947 dividing the remaining 30 per cent half for a Jewish state and half for another Arab state. The Arabs said no and have been saying no to this day.
Do you know that no Arab or Muslim state has yet recognized Israel as the ancestral home of the Jewish people? Not even the two Arab states that Israel has peace treaties with. So Israel has fought many wars since it became a modern state in 1948 for it's very survival. Israel has had to build a wall, by the way many countries have separation walls. The U.S. is building one to keep Mexicans out. Israel built one to keep suicide bombers out. And you know it works. Between 2000 and 2003 73 suicide bombers from the West Bank blew up buses, pizza parlours, hotels and schools leaving some 800 Israeli men women and children dead and many thousands with life altering injuries. (And no, I will not include photos) From 2006 to 2012 it was 12 suicide bomber and since 2012 none.
So, how do you equate or draw a moral equivalence between saving lives and creating some very unhappy Arabs that have to endure some inconveniences? What do you think our government would do given the same problem. So what about the check points. Yes they are a great inconvenience to the Palestinian population in the West bank and a great cost to Israel to administer. Because so many terrorist organizations function in the West Bank, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the El Aqusa Brigade, and now ISIS, Israel has no choice but to insure that terrorists do not move weapons around the West Bank and must monitor their activities to try and stop them from harming civilians.
If the ruling Palestinian authority adhered to their commitment they made in the Oslo accords, Israel would not have to man check points. And how about the settlements? Settlements that are in contravention in so-called international law. There were no settlements and no Jews in the West Bank and Gaza from 1948 to 1967. The West Bank was occupied by Jordan and Gaza was occupied by Egypt. Didn't hear a thing about occupation at that time. So in 1967 five Arab countries attacked Israel and they lost and Israel took over the administration of the West Bank and Gaza from the Jordanians and the Egyptians. Israel has tried since then to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians to create a Palestinian state and all it got in return is suicide bombers. One and a half million Arabs live in Israel as citizens with all the rights of citizenship.
Why are Jews so offensive that some 600,000 cannot live on the land that they bought and paid for in a future Palestinian state? Why did 8,000 Jews have to be forcefully removed from homes they built in Gaza? What is it about Jews that make us unwelcome and unwanted in countries around the world? Is this not racism of the worst kind? Jews do not behead or burn or rape or loot. The Israeli Army during the time of conflict is the most scrutinized army by both the Israeli press and the world press.
In the words of a British colonel, Richard Kemp, an Afghanistan and Iraq veteran, when testifying before the UN said, and I quote, Israel has the most moral army in the history of armies. So what does a moral army do to try and deter young Arab suicide bombers? It warns the parents of these tragically deranged kids that if they don’t stop inciting their children to become suicide bombers, their homes will be demolished. So the simple answer is stop teaching your children to become martyrs and your homes will be safe.
In conclusion, the answer to this problem is very simple. If the Arabs would lay down their arms, there would be peace. If Israel lays down its arms, it will cease to exist tomorrow. So if it’s wrong, it’s wrong, is sometimes not all that simple.
Abraham Silverman, Sturgeon County
